


Winter Accident

by queenmidalah



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenmidalah/pseuds/queenmidalah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sound of screams and the barely audible squeal of tires before the crunch of metal and metal brought him out of his musings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt from anonymous: winter biochemist: car accident during the winter

It was easy to forget how stupid people could be the moment that snow started to fall from the sky and fill the streets. It never failed to amaze him that people who lived in states where it snowed seemed to forget how to drive when said snow fell to the ground.

"Guess things don't change much," James "Bucky" Barnes murmured to himself as he reminisced at how the same had occurred in New York before he headed to war.

It was a rare day when Bucky found himself without an assignment for SHIELD or a day without Steve ensuring he was all right. Those days were becoming fewer thankfully over the past couple years, especially as he became focused and more like himself. Well as much as he could be after all the things he'd done as Hydra's puppet. He was finally coming to terms with the atrocities he had been a part of and the fact that it had not been *him*.

The sound of screams and the barely audible squeal of tires before the crunch of metal and metal brought him out of his musings. He was able to brake his own vehicle, swerving enough to not cause any danger to the pedestrians on the sidewalk, but without adding to the accident in the intersection.

Bucky quickly put his SUV into park and got out, his dark hair immediately being peppered by the falling snow. Carefully, he ran towards the worst of the wreckage and felt his heart drop to his toes. The vehicle in the middle of the intersection, which had right of way, had been t-boned by someone who either ran the red light or slid through in the snow. The car behind the one t-boned had managed to swerve so as not to completely rear end the other vehicle, but not enough to not catch to passenger's back end.

His heart dropped because he took in the make and model of the car, the license plate, and the decal in the back window that said "I make science look sexy". The same decal he had given to Jemma Simmons the first Christmas after they met.

Bucky's steps quickened as he hurried to the wreckage. He hoped that Jemma had potentially lent her car to someone else. He would never want to wish ill will on someone else, but he couldn't think if it was her behind the wheel. His hopes were dashed as he saw the familiar honey locks of hair and the smooth length of her neck that had small nicks from the shattered glass. Her eyes were closed and there was more blood on her face from lacerations. He only hoped that was the worst of her injuries at this point. The idea that this could prove fatal made his entire body go cold.

The coldness gave him a clarity. Pulling the full-fingered leather glove off his left hand, he took a moment to flex the metal before he pushed the car that had t-boned her away to give him access to the door. He examined the door to see if he could safely remove it without hurting Jemma further, but he couldn't find it.

"I called 911," a female voice said. Bucky lifted his head to see a woman with a bruise on her forehead.

"You all right?" Bucky asked her.

"Head hurts, but I'll be fine," she said. "I was in the car behind her. Hit my head on my steering wheel."

"Let the EMTs check you out when they get here," Bucky said, straightening to put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He hit the second speed dial and lifted it to his ear, waiting for the other side to pick up.

"Steve," he said when prompted. "I'm at the intersection of Bowery and East Houston. Jemma's been in an accident. Driver ran a red light and t-boned her. Paramedics should be on the--." He listened as Steve spoke on the other end. "Good. Thanks." He hung up the phone before moving over to the passenger side of Jemma's car.

Easing himself into the vehicle, he studied the damage to see if she was pinned. He could see that her leg was potentially broken, definitely had a laceration. He reached over to carefully probe the wound, letting out a breath when he was able to determine that the laceration had not hit an artery. He still put some pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding.

Jemma moaned, her eyes cracking slightly. "Bu..." she croaked.

"S'ok, doll," Bucky said. "You were in an accident. Paramedics are on the way and I'm here. We'll get you patched up in no time."

"Fuzzy," she murmured, her voice slurred. The sound worried Bucky, but until he knew how bad her injuries were, he wouldn't let his worry take over. He had to focus to keep her alive.

"Probably smacked your head pretty good when you were hit," Bucky said. "Just stay with me, doll. We'll get you to the hospital."

"How'd you..." Jemma couldn't form full sentences. She could barely get her brain to focus on keeping her eyes open.

"Just happened to be a few cars behind you without even knowing it," Bucky said. "About lost my shit when I saw it was your car hit. Good thing I was here though, got the best coming for you along with those paramedics."

The sound of sirens interrupted much of what Bucky wanted to say further. He remained in the car, talking nonsensically to Jemma, even as her eyes closed and she lost consciousness. He tried his best to not panic when that happened, but he was being urged out of the vehicle by the EMTs. He watched them work on extracting Jemma from the wreckage before he found himself in the ambulance with her as they screamed off towards the nearest emergency room.

~~

"Barnes."

Bucky lifted his head to see Phil Coulson heading straight for him. Melinda May and Steve were right behind him, with Natasha Romanoff behind them. He got to his feet.

"They took her into surgery," Bucky said. "She's got some internal bleeding and a punctured lung from the impact. They want to get it under control. She has a concussion, but thankfully no major head trauma or damage to her spine. She's got a fractured wrist and her leg was pretty busted up. They are taking care of that too while in surgery, repair to the muscle they said. They rattled off a bunch of medical jargon that I only half caught. Took everything I had to not follow them into surgery to make sure they took care of her."

"What happened?" May asked. "It wasn't..."

"Just a weather related accident," Bucky said. He made sure of it, interrogating the driver of the other car as best he could without calling on his Hydra training. "Driver of the car was going too fast and glanced down at the wrong time. When he looked up, his light had turned red. Slammed on his brakes, but with the way the roads were because of the snow, it did no good. He just slid through the intersection right into Jemma's car."

"Anyone else hurt?" Coulson asked. There was relief in the his voice that Jemma hadn't been targeted.

"The driver of the car that hit her has a broken nose from hitting his steering wheel," Bucky said. He lifted his hand when Coulson raised an eyebrow. "Honest, he got it in the accident. I acted mean and scary to make sure he wasn't an enemy of SHIELD, but that's it. Man was practically in hysterics as it was for causing the accident, I didn't need to hurt him. His ankle is broken too from the impact. Woman following Jemma that partially rear ended her has a mild concussion from hitting her steering wheel, but they were the only vehicles that collided."

"So Jemma's the worse of the accident victims," Steve said.

"Yeah," Bucky said.

"And now we wait," Coulson said.

This time, Bucky sighed and his response was quiet. "Yeah."

~~

Jemma's eyes slowly opened. She was blissfully pain free for the moment and her head was fuzzy. She knew she wouldn't be awake long, the drugs already working to slip her back into unconsciousness. She was aware of the feel of smooth metal beneath her hand. Her fingers worked against the metal fingers, tapping her nails lightly to gain Bucky's attention.

He was aware of her movement even before he heard the light tap against the metal. He looked up and smiled softly.

"Hey beautiful," he said, his voice sleepy.

"Hey," she croaked. He immediately rose and poured some water, helping her drink.

"Better?" he asked. She gave a small nod. "Good. You just rest, you've got some healing to do."

"How bad?" Jemma asked quietly.

"You had to have surgery," he said. "Internal bleeding and a punctured lung, plus some of your driver's side door did a number on your leg that they had to repair. Concussion, cuts and bruises, but not as bad as it could have been considering."

"Accident or was..."

"It wasn't intentional," Bucky said. "Just bad circumstances with the weather."

"Was anyone else hurt?" she asked.

"You had the worst injuries," Bucky said. "No fatalities." He knew that was the biggest thing weighing on Jemma's mind.

"Thank God," she whispered. Bucky shook his head. He had never known a woman like Jemma, who seemed to value the life of others well above her own. It often gave him a heart attack in the field when she dodged bullets to get to a bleeding agent, even if they were the one on the wrong side. 

"You scared the hell out of me," he finally whispered.

"I'm sorry," Jemma said.

"Don't," he said. "It's not your fault." He caressed her hand, his touch as gentle as possible. He knew she was drugged to hell and back, but he still worried he would hurt her if he hit even one sensitive area of her battered body.

"I love you, Jemma," he said. "I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Jemma gave him a small, tired smile. "I love you too," she said quietly.

Bucky lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. "Sleep, doll," he said. 

"Stay with me?"

"I'm not going anywhere." It was all Jemma needed to hear.


End file.
